Where There's a Spark There's a Flame
by Springui
Summary: Everyone's lives are defined by the choices they make, and one good or bad decision can completely alter the path a person is on. Rin Nazumi is determined to not let one mistake dictate her future and is bound to become a hero despite her marred past. Her eyes are set on one goal but some things in life just can't be planned for; things like love or maybe something close to it.


Rin was five years old when her father left in the middle of the night and never returned. Like the remnants of a fading dream, she could only remember bits and pieces of the event, but even after so many years it never disappeared completely.

Disturbed by some unnamable force, she'd woken up that night and wandered downstairs where she found her father slowly opening the front door.

"Daddy, where are you going?"  
The man jumped -or at least she remembered it that way- and turned around to face her. He stood frozen, staring at her with one hand on the door knob and the other around the handle of a suitcase, until he finally opened his mouth. "Go back to bed, Rin."

Naively she questioned nothing and did as he instructed, unaware that would be the last time she ever saw him. The next morning she awoke to her mother's sobs.

He was gone and she had done nothing to stop him.

Two years later, when the sound of his voice and even his face had all but faded from Rin's mind, Mom remarried.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Mom said beaming. A tall, broad shouldered man with dark purple hair and even darker eyes stood next to her and waved. "This is Fujiro," she said, "and from now on, he's going to be your stepdad!"

A warm smile stretched across his face as he knelt down in front of her. "I know everything's a bit sudden," he said, "but I want you to know that I'm so happy to be your stepdad, and I'll love you as if I was your real dad, Rin. I _promise_."

But promises are just empty words and like glass, can be easily _broken_.

…

_Rin Nazumi: age 10_

_Besin Elementary School, Hosu City _

Rin struck her foot against the garbage can with a shout, and it ricocheted against the lockers, spilling its contents across the room. Her lips curled into a snarl as she marched over and pulled her bag from the amongst the trash. Some sort of orange liquid dripped off its surface, something sticky coated it in spots, and it smelled like sour milk. Mom bought this bag for her before she left on her trip, since the last one had been ruined as well, and Rin's chest burned at the sight of its distressed state.

Tanaka was going to _pay_ for doing this.

She spun around to survey the faces around her, but the boy's wasn't amongst the crowd. "Which one of you losers know where Tanaka is!" she bellowed.

Everyone stared at her with wide eyes but said nothing.

"Where is he!" she screamed again, emphasizing her point by punching the locker next to her.

The room stayed silent. No one spoke, no one moved, and most importantly no one answered her damn question. If this was how they were going to be then fine, she'd find out by other means

A girl from her class -Kanno if she remembered correctly- stood three lockers away as silent as everyone else, but something about her suck out. She wrung her hands and constantly shifted her gaze from Rin to something behind her, and… wasn't she around Tanaka all the time?

Kanno let out a yelp as Rin stormed over and grabbed one of her blond pigtails. She ignored her cries though, and yanked the whimpering girl down to her eye level.

"I won't ask again," she seethed, "where is he?"

Without hesitation, Kanno pointed past Rin's head and blurted, "H-he's outside hiding behind the wall!"

"Were you in on it too?"

The girl frantically shook her head. "I didn't have anything to do with it, Nazumi, I-I swear!"

Rin let the girl go, stepped out of the locker room, and headed towards the said wall lining the edges of the school grounds. Dozens of shuffling feet slowly followed behind her, making Rin aware of all of the eyes on her back, but it did nothing to shake her resolve. After all, it was always nice to remind people what she was capable of.

A few feet from the wall, she stopped and set down her bag, and then faced her hands towards the ground. A familiar pressure spread down her arms, and once it reached her palms, water sprang from them. The liquid molded to her hands' movements as she stretched them out in front of her and formed a wave a little bigger than herself. Gritting her teeth, she threw her arms forward and sent the wave crashing over the wall. Almost like pulling an invisible rope, she tugged her arms back and the water swept Tanaka, and another boy she didn't recognize, out from the cover of the wall. Then liquid dropped them in front of her with a yelp. Before they could regain their bearings, she stormed over and grabbed Tanaka by his tie.

"Y-you let him go!" the other boy shouted.

"Shut up!" she said, shoving him away with a small wave. She refocused her attention onto her original target and snarled. "I told you to leave me alone, but here you are ruining my shit again."

"N-Nazumi," Tanaka stuttered, "I can explain, we were… we were just playing a joke!"

"Does it look like I'm laughing?"

"N-no, but I-"

She dropped him, and with a flick of her wrist, sent a small wave crashing over him. A tendril of water wrapped around his ankle and threw him into the other boy. When he tried to stand, she hit him with another wave that pummeled him back onto the ground and split open his lip.

Once she was satisfied, the water retreated to her and disappeared into her palms. "This is just a warning," she said glaring down at the two boys. "Mess with me again and I won't go so easy on you." She pointed at the gawking crowd and shouted, "That goes for the rest of you too!"

With one last pointed look at Tanaka, she picked up her soiled bag and turned to leave.

"H-hey!" Tanaka shouted after her. "You can't just yell and beat us, and then turn around and leave!"

Rin stopped and glared at him over her shoulder. "Stop wasting my time. You deserved it."

He ran the back of his hand across his bleeding lip and said, "W-well, who said I was just… just going to let you go!"

With a sigh, she turned fully around and set her bag back down as Tanaka and the other boy stood shakily to their feet. The longer this dragged out, the more annoying it was becoming.

"Don't think I-I'll let you win so easily!" He clenched his fists and they expanded until they were almost twice the size they had been, then he dropped into a fighting stance. Murmurs in the crowd arose at this and Rin cocked an eyebrow. Was he actually serious about fighting _her? _It was almost laughable. Compared to her, his weak quirk was like pitting paper against iron. The gap between their abilities was far too wide to even be compared. Her eyes shifted to the boy standing next to him and she realized that she had no idea what his quirk was, but it didn't matter. No one could defeat her.

"After all," he said pointing a finger at her, "the heroes never let the villains win!"

A spike of rage shot through her and her eyes narrowed. What the hell was even the point of heroes, anyway? What did they do that was so damn special? But if Tanaka wanted her to play the role of the villain then fine, she'd play. Water formed around her hands once more and she lowered into a fighting stance as well.

With battle cry, he ran at her and brought his left fist around in an arc.

If he thought he could hit her with such a weak, obvious punch, he was dead wrong-

"Now, Momichi, like we practiced!" he shouted.

"Right!"

Tanaka vanished-

Rin's eyebrows shot up and her eyes rapidly scanned the area he'd just occupied. What? That wasn't what his quirk did, so how did he-

-then reappeared right in front of her.

There was just enough time for her amber eyes to widen before his fist slammed into her nose. The force threw her head back, but before it collided with the ground, she threw her arms behind her and they caught her instead.

Immediately the crowd silenced.

Something warm ran over Rin's lips and down her chin, and her nose began to throb in time with her heartbeat. She slowly lifted her fingers to her nose, and when she pulled them away, they were coated in blood. Her eyes widened as she watched her own blood drip from her fingers onto the concrete.

Her quirk was like steel compared to his, so how did this… this _paper _hit her.

Tanaka, along with all of the onlookers, stared in shocked silence at her. No one seemed to move or even blink for what felt like an eternity.

"Dude," someone finally said, "you just… decked Nazumi."

Like a switch being flipped, those words snapped her back into reality with a fiery rage. "All of you," she gritted out as she stood to her feet, "get the hell away from me!" A wave rippled from her in every direction and crashed into anyone nearby and everyone screamed as they scrambled to get away from her. Once Rin was the only one left, she let out a frustrated scream, dropped to a knee, and slammed her fist into the concrete.

_Weak, little Rin. Look at how pitiful you are. _

…

Walking home with blood dripping from her nose was shameful.

No, it was _pathetic. _

No matter how many times she replayed the fight in her mind, she still couldn't wrap her head around the outcome. How had she let Tanaka beat her so easily when he'd been standing _right in front of her_? It was just so… so damn pathetic.

More than a few people shot her odd looks, but her glaring eyes quickly made them look away. By the time she reached her house, her nose stopped bleeding, but it still stung and throbbed like hell.

She stepped up the stairs leading to the porch and pressed her ear against the front door. Everything was silent, so she carefully cracked it open and peeked her head inside. None of the lights were on but her eyes scanned the dark room anyway, and once she was positive that he really wasn't home, she stepped inside.

After leaving her shoes at the genkan*, Rin headed up the stairs and into the bathroom. She threw the soiled bag into the bathtub and then stepped onto the stool in front of the sink to see the damage Tanaka's punch caused.

Dried blood coated her nostrils and upper lip, and a few stray droplets were dried to her chin as well. Using her quirk, she scrubbed the blood off, and then carefully felt up the length of her nose. It was swollen and turning purple but didn't feel crooked, so at least it wasn't broken. With a sigh, she let her hand drop to her side and stared at her reflection.

Her hair was messier than usual and stuck up in every direction, so she patted it down, but as soon as she removed her hand, it popped right back up. Spiked bangs hung in her eyes, but she left them alone since -like the rest of her hair- they would fall right back into place if she tried to move them anyway.

"What a mess…" she mumbled.

Mom would be back from her business trip tomorrow, only to come home and see Rin looking like _this. _Rin could already picture the disapproving frown marring her gentle face, and she didn't want that. Mom was the only light in her life and Rin didn't know what she'd do if it burned out.

Letting Tanaka go so damn easily was a mistake, one that she wouldn't ever make again.

Just as she jumped off the stool, the creak of the front door opening assaulted her ears and she immediately stiffened.

Fujiro was home.

Her heart rate spiked as heavy footsteps thumped across the house before seeming to stop at the bottom of the stairs.

"Get down here, Rin!" his booming voice called, echoing off the walls like roaring thunder.

She held her breath and stayed completely still...

"Rin, I told you to _get the hell down here!_"

...But she refused to be a coward.

She walked out of the bathroom and to the top of the stairs, heart beating so loudly she wondered if Fujiro could hear it. Despite the pounding in her chest, her eyes never looked away from his, and she kept her mouth set in a thin line that revealed nothing more than what she wanted him to see. Slowly she descended the stairs and came to a halt a few steps away from him.

Like a looming giant, he towered over her, and she fought the urge to take a step back. He studied her face the same way someone would study garbage and said, "What the hell did you do to your nose?"

"Why would you care?"  
"I don't," he replied without hesitation.

Rin's fingers twitched against her thigh but other than that her face remained impassive.

"Go make me something to eat," he commanded, "and you better not burn it like you did last time."

He turned away and disappeared into the kitchen but she made no move to follow. Only when she heard the screech of a chair being pulled against tile did she release a breath and walk into the kitchen as well. She swiftly stepped around the table and opened the cabinet where the stash of instant ramen was kept. After standing on her tiptoes and placing one into the microwave, she stood back and watched the cup spin in slow circles.

"Ayame's going to be back tomorrow," Fujiro remarked casually.

She glanced at him. "I know."

"I wonder how disappointed your mother will be to see you looking so…" he waved a hand at her, "pathetic."

A pang shot through her chest and she reflexively brought a hand to cover her swollen nose but stopped herself. His words were meaningless.

"She won't even be surprised. Hell, she'll be expecting it." He clicked his tongue. "After all, you never fail to disappoint her."

_Ignore him._

As soon as the microwave beeped, she ripped the door open and yanked the cup out with much more force than was necessary.

"Some day, she's going to be so sick of you disappointing her that-" he paused to chuckle, "-she won't come back at all."

A rush of fear shot through her. "_Shut up."_

"I thought it would have taken longer to get a rise out of you."

Rin tore open the flavoring packet and dumped it in with gritted teeth, then grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began roughly stirring it. _Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him. _

"You're just so weak_." _

Her fist slammed against the counter and broke the chopsticks in half. "You're wrong!" she shouted spinning around.

He raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"I am not weak!"

There was a beat of silence... then he laughed. It was deep and loud, and the longer it lasted, the tighter Rin's chest became.

"You're so pathetic, Rin," he said, finally done with his fit, "I think you and I both know that, despite how strong you pretend to be, you're nothing but a weak, little girl." He stood from the table and turned to walk away. "I've lost my appetite," he called over his shoulder. "Being around you has made me sick."

"I'm not weak, damnit!" she shouted at his retreating form.

He didn't spare a single glance.

"You hear me?!" she ignored the crack in her voice, as did he, as he continued to walk away from her. Her fingers grasped the cup of ramen, and her rage filled mind didn't fully regester what she was doing. "Go to hell, old man!" she screamed sending the cup flying through the air.

There was a moment -perhaps not even a second- of complete clarity that she realized what a grave mistake she just made.

A startled yelp escaped Fujiro's mouth as the cup connected with the back of his head, and splashed hot water and noodles against his skin.

For a moment, none of them made a move, but then Fujiro ran a hand down the back of his head and turned around. A vein in his forehead popped and he stared at her with wide eyes as his lips twisted into a snarl.

_Run_

Her own wide eyes stared back at him and every muscle in her body tensed.

"You little brat," he bellowed. "_I'm going to kill you_!"

_Run!_

She threw a wave into the table and knocked it into him, and then scrambled through the kitchen into the living room. She then leapt over the couch and spared a quick glance over her shoulder, only to see that he was mere feet away. In a panic, she blasted him in the face with her waves and sprinted for the stairs. If she could just make it to her room-

A hand gripped her collar and yanked.

_She failed._

Her back slammed against the bottom step and sharp pain shot through her body, but that was the least of her concerns. Before it was too late, she struggled to escape his grip, but his calloused fingers wrapped around her arm and it was all over. Her body grew so heavy that even summoning a droplet of water seemed impossible. No matter what she tried there was nothing she could do against his Fatigue.

Fujiro looked down at her in disgust and roughly pulled her into a half-standing, half-kneeling position. "You are a disgrace to your entire family," he shouted, shaking her, "and a blight on everyone you meet! Your mere existence is a pestilence!" He leaned his face mere inches from hers and growled, "_I despise you."_

The few dying embers of rage and rebellion that burned in her chest gave her the little strength she needed to spit in his eye. He retched and threw her against the floor in favor of rubbing the offending substance from his eye and screamed, "You little bitch, you're going to pay for that!"

He grabbed her arm and began dragging her across the floor.

_No, not this._

She panicked and struggled harder against his grip, but even moving a finger felt like lifting a hundred pounds. "Don't..." she pleaded.

_Anything but_ _this._

He dragged her limp body around the stairs and against the side of it.

Breathing became difficult as her heart pounded harder and harder against her chest. "N-no," she gasped weakly, "Le'… go."

His hand grasped the doorknob of the small closet.

"Pl-ple-"

_Please_

He swung the door open and kicked her into the small space like an animal. She tried to scream, she tried to struggle, she tried _so damn hard, _but her efforts were as useless as they always were.

_She was going to suffocate. _

"Nobody loves you, _brat_, and nobody ever will."

He closed the door.

…

_Besin Elementary School_

Rin sat alone on the swings and numbly watched as the other children played around her. Everyone avoided her. If she was on the swings, the rest of the seats suddenly emptied, or if she went down the slide, no one used it for the rest of the day.

_A blight on everyone you meet._

Her fingers tightened around the chains, and she hung her head so she could only see the rough patches of dirt on the ground and nothing else.

_Your mere existence is a pestilence._

She wished she could disappear, become invisible.

When the playful shouts of children ceased she barely noticed, and her ears tuned out the dozens of feet thudding towards her. Only when multiple pairs of shoes interrupted her view of the dirt did she raise her head. Twenty or so children stood before her and her eyebrows rose, but she quickly masked her surprise with a glare.

She didn't know or care why they were here, she just wanted them to leave.

"I don't have anything to say to you, losers," she barked more confident than she actually felt. "Get lost."

A few cringed away from her, but many others defiantly crossed their arms and shot their own glares back. Rin's grip around the chains tightened even more, and an odd feeling struck her that something bad was going to happen.

Tanaka stepped out of the crowd and planted himself in front of her. "We have some things that we want to say to _you_, though," he demanded with a scowl. "We're tired of you acting like you're better than us." Other kids chorused their agreement. "You always call us names and beat us up, so we're here to put you in your place!"

Her chest burned and she snarled, "Was I too soft on you yesterday? Decide to come back for another beating?" She stood and glared as harshly as she could, "All of you are wasting my time."

_Just leave me alone. _

"You're not as untouchable as you think you are!" he shouted pointing at her. "Don't forget that I was the one who hit _you_ yesterday!"

Her nose throbbed at the accusation and she once again berated herself for allowing him to hit her. Why couldn't they just leave her the hell alone? Why did they insist on provoking her?

"Everybody saw it," Tanaka continued, gesturing to the crowd behind him. "We all know you're not as powerful as you want us to think. So we're going to teach you to never mess with us again!" He smashed his fists together and they grew to twice their size. As if on cue, the rest of the children started activating their quirks as well.

_Go away, go away, go away, go away..._

"You think by ganging up on me you can beat me?" Her hands shook, but not with fear. "Think the hell again," she screamed. "I'll destroy every single one of you cowards!"

"You're the one who's a coward!" someone else cut in. Rin searched the crowd until her eyes settled on a girl with familiar blond pigtails, Kanno. The girl kept her eyes glued to the ground and her voice shook as she said, "No one even likes you because you… you," she pointed a trembling finger at Rin, "you're a monster!"

_A blight on everyone you meet_

_Pathetic_

_Worthless_

_**Monster**_

Something inside her broke. Completely shattered like glass.

"You think I'm a monster? That you're better than me?!" Her chest heaved up and down. "Then fight me and I'll show you a monster!" Water pooled from her hands and surrounded her. "_Come at me!_"

All at once, they attacked.

She threw a wave into the first group of children and pushed them out of her way. A girl with flaming hair tried to jump her, but Rin shot a knee into her stomach and threw her into three other kids rushing towards her. A glimpse of a bright green caught her eye, so she spun around while ducking and barely avoided some kind of laser to the face. The boy stared at her in dumb shock and she snarled as she crashed her water into him.

A jagged stone grazed past her face and slit her cheek open. Blood flowed from the wound but she ignored it and instead turned just as another large rock was flying towards her. With a shout, she threw up a wall of water and caught it midair, then launched it back at the attackers.

Some grabbed her hair and a surprised cry escaped her lips as they ripped her head back. Water formed around her hands, but before she could release it, other pairs of hands latched onto her. They yanked on her arms and legs until she could no longer keep her balance and lost her footing. She tried to get back on her feet only to get shoved to the ground and a mouthful of dirt.

One by one, kids started piling on top of her.

It was all too much. Everyone and everything, too close. Her lungs fought to take in air until white spots danced across her vision and her head throbbed. She couldn't move, couldn't breath; she was suffocating.

_Mom-_

Someone laughed.

Screams and pounding of flesh against flesh faded away, and the world shifted into a blur. Her eyes drifted towards the sound, but instead of a child, Fujiro's dark eyes stared back at her. "_What did you say? That you weren't weak?" _A twisted smile stretched across his face, "_Could have fooled me." _Another laugh bubbled out of him and he threw his head back.

Rin shook, no _trembled, _and an intense pressure radiated throughout her entire body. Water gushed from her palms like a dam breaking loose and she bellowed, "Shut up, just shut the hell up!"

The ground beneath her completely flooded, and with nowhere else to go, the water pushed against her, forcing her off the ground and to her feet. The dozens of hands latched onto her quickly retreated, but she didn't give a damn about them. Her eyes were fixated on only Fujiro, who was _still laughing at her._ Water surrounded her in a swirling vortex that grew until it towered over her like a vicious skyscraper, leaving only her and Fujiro inside.

_What's so wrong with me?_

Something wet swirled in her eyes and blurred her vision.

_I just want you to acknowledge me, to see that I'm not weak. All I've ever wanted was for you to keep your promise, for you to… to lov-_

Fujiro abruptly stopped laughing and stared directly at her. His eyes narrowed into slits and his grin twisted into an ugly snarl. "_Because I don't want anything to do with you," _he screamed. "_You make me sick, you little worthless bitch. I hate you!"_

She knew he would say that, damn it, she _knew _he would. But even so, her chest ached more than ever before. She stretched her hands out, and the wetness in her eyes ran down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. Like two droplets of rain, they collided with the ground and Fujiro disappeared.

A scream tore from her throat and she released the wave.

It was a blur as the powerful current ripped through her classmates and tossed them around like rag dolls. A few stupid kids tried to attack her, but she swept them away before they could even try to use their quirks. One after another she took down her classmates until eventually she found the boy who had started everything.

"Stop, P-please! I give up!" Tanaka begged trying to crawl away from her.

A tendril of water wrapped around his neck and she dragged him to her. "You still think you're the hero? That you're so much better than me?"

"N-no!" Tears began to stream down his face. "It was s-stupid of me to t-try and… and fight you, I-I'm sorry!"

"I don't think you're sincere enough," she growled drawing back her fist. He wailed and covered his face with his shaking arms.

_Am I good enough for you now, Fujiro?_

Her fist was yanked away from the boy and someone pulled her back.

"Nazumi, calm down!" a woman screamed confining Rin's squirming arms to her sides.

"Let go of me!" She threw her head back and slammed it into the woman's jaw. With a cry the woman loosened her grip, and Rin tore away from her grasp. She took only two steps before a different pair of arms wrapped themselves around her. Curses and screams flew from her lips but the grip around her only tightened.

"Stop struggling, damn it!" a man's voice screamed.

"I told you to let me go!" Albeit slower than before, water formed around her hands, despite them being pressed to her sides. If he wasn't going to let her go, then she'd make him-

"_Look around you, Nazumi!_"

Something about his voice that she couldn't explain actually made her pause.

"_Look at what you've done!" _

For possibly the first time in forever, she obediently did as she was told and looked. Kids were strewn across the playground like broken dolls. Some cried, others cradled bleeding and bruised limbs, and some curled in on themselves and trembled. But one thing every single one had in common was that they were staring at her with wide eyes and quivering lips.

"You…" Rin looked down at Tanaka and realized his arm was twisted at an odd angle. When had that happened? Although tears flowed down his face, he clenched his good hand into a tight fist and glared at her. "...You're nothing but a horrible _villain_."

All the rage and hatred she'd felt just moments ago seemed so far away now. She was done fighting.

…

There was a creak as the door to the office opened and someone stepped into the small room. Rin lifted her head to look at the intruder and her eyes widened as she jumped from the chair. "Mom!" she called running over and grabbing her hand. "I've missed you so much, I-"

"Rin," she interrupted pulling her hand from her daughter's grasp. Unshed tears swirled in her eyes and the deepest frown Rin had ever seen marred her face. "What have you done?"

_After all, you never fail to disappoint her._

* * *

*Genkan- in case you don't know what this means, it's the step like thing in front of Japanese doors where they leave their shoes.

Thank you guys so much for checking out my story! It's going to be a long ride, but I hope you stick around to see how Rin's journey ends :) I don't have an exact updating schedule, but the next five chapters are basically done so it shouldn't be too long of a wait. I look forward to this adventure with you all and reviews are always welcome!

-Springui


End file.
